


Death in the Family

by gwen_reilly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Major Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 16:36:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5633626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gwen_reilly/pseuds/gwen_reilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke Skywalker reflects on the aftermath of a tragic event.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Death in the Family

**Author's Note:**

> The following contains MASSIVE SPOILERS for "The Force Awakens." If you somehow have not yet seen it and do not wish to be spoiled, please turn back now. I'd hate to kill the movie for you before you even see it. 
> 
> Also, this is more of a character study than anything else in particular. Also because good Lord I need to post something on here. I can't always be a spectator if I want to write. Feedback is appreciated, and I hope you enjoy.

Wounds in the Force were nothing to scoff at. It usually meant many lives were taken so quickly. You could hear the screams, and the pain would shoot through the heart like a dagger. It was not unusual for a Jedi to feel such wounds. He could feel the many lives taken when the Starkiller base destroyed the Hosnian system. He had winced, barely moved. The years of training had perhaps steadied him, or so he believed. Despite the tragedy, he could not bring himself to leave. He could not return. Not after what he had done.

Shortly after such a heavy disturbance, he distinctly felt one more. This one felt as if someone had stabbed him in the heart _and_ in the gut. He almost keeled over, barely able to withstand the pain. It said quite a bit that Luke Skywalker could not bear this pain. He'd suffered many injuries throughout the years. But this one almost crippled him. He had rested his hand over his heart, barely able to recognize the lives taken in this particular disturbance. When the pain struck again, Luke recognized the singular life that had been snuffed out. And when he did, it took the breath from his body.  _Han._ By his own son's hand. He immediately reacts, memories of fights, talks, the good laughs long gone in the stretch of time. In the years that stretched ahead after leaving Tatooine that fateful day, Luke had gained a family: the nurturing, commanding, and kind sister in Leia. The guidance of Obi-Wan. The quirky antics of C-3PO and R2-D2. The unwavering loyalty of Chewbacca. Even the heroic bravado and arrogance of Lando. And the polar opposite in Han.

Han was never a believer in the Force, he often scoffed at the mystical mumbo-jumbo. Han was brash, quick on his feet, even coming off gruff and rude on occasion.  But Han was resourceful. Han was loyal. And damn it all if Han Solo ever gave up on anything. Or anyone.

But yet, even as he felt the disturbance, Luke could not move. Could not bring himself to return. What would Leia say? How could he face her now, after this? 

Even now, as he watched the young girl who held up his lightsaber with tentative pleading hope in her eyes, he hesitated. A part of him remembers that look, he wore it once in his younger days. 

But what could he do now? What could he do after another member of the family was gone? Did time have a place for him now? Was it time to return at last?

 _Please,_ the girl's eyes seemed to say,  _please._

  _Should I...?_


End file.
